Konoha's State of the World
by Music Illusion
Summary: "Your objective is to get the bells..." That was the beginning of the group of Team Ayaka, with three members, as they go through phases in the ninja world. The Chunin exams... missions... And not to mention they're all girls.
1. Chapter 1

**Konoha's State of The World**

**Chapter One: You Passed... Saying What?**

Work it. Harder. Make it better! Do it, faster, makes us stronger. What won't kill me will make me stronger. That's what Asuka said. That's what her shinobi way was.

Asuka Nekono was the name, though most people called her Asu-nyan, because she was part of the Nekono clan. They added the -nyan instead of chan or san or anything because of two things. First, it's the Neko-no clan, obviously. Second, the Nekono clan have cat-ears, that helped her enhance her senses.

Her story started when she was younger, when she was still part of a clan. She had run away from home, yet having no parents in Konohagakure wasn't really that bad. She would steal without anyone nagging her, do dangerous stuff, all these things kids couldn't. And no one would care.

"Asu-nyan!" Akiko said, running to catch up with Asuka. Akiko was generally her only friend. Akiko Ikeda, the Ikeda clan. A bit lazy, and the only skill she had was playing chess with Shikamaru... but she's really nice, and most of them haven't seen her battle, so they didn't exactly know how strong she was.

"Kiko-chan!" Asuka said, and stopped to wait for her. Akiko finally caught up.

"Hey!" She said, and smiled. "What're you doing?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just walking to school." Asuka replied with a shrug.

"They're announcing the groups today!" Akiko exclaimed, with happiness.

"Really? How'd you know?"

"Rumors. Duh."

Asuka looked in her bag.

"Shoot! Can I borrow your notebook before class starts? I forgot to take notes."

"Fine, but you've gotta return it before class starts." Akiko said, and ran to school.

"Thanks!" She shouted after her, but "Kiko-chan" was already gone.

Iruka sensei came out, and happy, almost eager to conduct the speech.

"Okay, everyone!" He announced, "Today, you're officially genin!" He smiled, as the class cheered.

"I'll now announce the teams," He said, and cleared his throat. "Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura.  
Team 8: Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba.

Team 10: Akimitchi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino.

Team 11: Suzumiah Akahana, Sato Takashi, Keto Iki-Ryo.

Team 13: Fujisaki Akira, Tazuki Sarutobi, Hyuga Inari.

Team 16: Mataki Yukiko..." He paused, and had a small look of amusement on his face. "Nekono Asuka, Ikeda Akiko." He smiled. Asuka looked around the room. She eyed one of the members of her group—Akiko. Then she looked on the other side.

Yukiko looked so nonchalant and quiet, similar to the cold look across the room, coming from the Uchiha... But Yukiko had something else on her mind. When Yukiko was alone, she would be like this. But when someone was with her, she'd put out a front and be funny. She'd be outgoing. Though hot-tempered, but she was a nice person to hang out with.

After school, Kiko-chan and Asu-nyan went to talk about their own team.

"Oh! What do you think our sensei will look like?" asked Asuka.

"Well, considering there are multiple Jonin, and many Jonin that are tutors. Considering the look on Iruka-sensei's face when he announced our group, I'd guess our sensei would be a girl as well."

"Yeah... why'd Iruka-sensei look so... confused?"

"Well, obviously it's the fact that we're the only group in perhaps ever to have a group consisted of only girls." Akiko replied.

"How is that strange? That's totally normal... right?"

"Not quite. Usually, most groups consist of two boys, and one girl to be a medical ninja."

"Wow. Sexist, much?" The blonde paused to think, but by the time she had finished, she was already home.

"Well, see you tomorrow!" Akiko said, and started to leave.

Asuka sat in her bed imagining of all the adventures they could have. Her, Akiko, and Yukiko. She didn't know much about Yukiko, truthfully. Yukiko was... something else. Something which she did not know about yet. She didn't even know how Akiko fought... perhaps she was a strategist, because she's a master at chess. Neither her nor Akiko got decent grades, seeing as Akiko just ditched class a majority of the time, unless her presence was necessary.

In fact, nobody knew how anybody fought, for that matter. Except themselves, of course. She lay on my bed, quiet and serene.

"We're supposed to meet our sensei here." Akiko replied solemnly the next day and brought out a game of chess. "Wanna play?"

Yukiko raised her hand a bit. "I will." She said, and sat.

Akiko believed Yukiko would have no chance. _I mean, Kiko-chan verses Special Jonin and wins. _Thought Asuka

"Check." Kiko-chan said, and Yukiko moved. But when they were about to finish, a voice yelled, "Hello!"

Standing there was a woman. A pretty woman at that, but a slightly stern glare at the same moment, with her piercing brown eyes. Now, brown eyes weren't usually piercing, but her eyes were such a radiant brown, they seemed almost red.

"Who are you?" asked Asuka. The woman did not answer, just stared at them, grinning.

"Now, don't keep smiling. Not with me—Ayaka Hamano— as your teacher." She leaned her back and sat in the water in the fountain. Except she didn't sit _in _it. She sat _on_ it. Like, literally, like Jesus. She was on top of the water, practically defying gravity. "I'm going to test you, to see if it's true."

"If what's true?" Asuka asked.

"If you're group that's consisted of all girls is considered equal to that of two boys and a girl." She replied, and flipped through a book.

"What—exactly—are you doing?" Akiko asked.

"Well, I like Kakashi-kun's training style." She closed the book. "It'll be a perfect way to test you."

They nodded, accepting the challenge.  
"Meet me at the training grounds—the one with the wooden stakes— over to the east tomorrow, and take note: Do not eat breakfast."

"Okay!" Asuka cheered, and Ayaka left.

"We waited here for an extra ten minutes... that took less then five?" Akiko asked.

"Well, we can't really look back on it for so long. She may need to prepare." Asuka replied, and ran off.

The next day, they stood in front of Ayaka Hamano, who held up two bells.

"Your objective is to get these two bells in front of me—" To prove a point, she pulled the bells, that made them emit a 'ding-ding_'_ sound, "before lunchtime. If not, you go without lunch and get sent back to the academy."

"Before we get started..." Akiko said, "yesterday you said 'Kakashi-kun'. Isn't it supposed to be a last name, then the suffix/abbreviation for -kun? Unless it's of course, a reference to a crus-"

Her eyes widened. "Well... um..." she cleared her throat. "You have five minutes to get set up, while I go get your 'maybe' lunch."

"What a bother... now I need to set up a strategy—" Akiko paused. "Where's Yukiko?"

Asuka looked around. Sure enough, she was gone.

"Okay. Well, since you're the most hyperactive girl we know—"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She decided to ignore her and go on. "She'll think that you're desperate and dumb. But you're not going to be. While you're distracting her, I'll attack with kunai from the back. If that doesn't work, I want you to retreat immediately into the trees, because either way, if she catches it without even looking at it, it's going to be a impossible fight. Got it?"

"Yeah." Asuka replied as Akiko disappeared in one of the many varieties of trees.

"10," A voice said from a distance, "9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

Ayaka entered the field, normally.

"Oi, Sensei!" She yelled, as loud as she could. She turned her head.

"Really? You're attacking me head on—"

before she could finish her sentence, she attacked her.

Asuka flew up in the air and did a flip for extra bravado.

This was the only jutsu she memorised, and it was quite difficult, and had burnt herself accidentally many times.

Hand Seals: Snake, Tiger, Ox, Horse, Hare, Tiger...

"Katon! Housenka no jutsu!" She blew multiple fire spitballs out of her mouth.

The adult's eyes widened. She dodged it at the speed of light.

It was amazing anyone could go that fast, much less their sensei.

"Not quite." She replied. "Yeesh, Time flies, don't it?" She nodded to the clock, placed to show time.

The blonde's eyes widened. It was already 10... I jumped.

_Now... it's gotta be now_. She thought. She threw multiple shurikens at her, in each direction, and re-checked.

Right diagonal, left diagonal, vertically, horizontally... I got all of them. There was no way she could dodge this...

So she didn't. She countered it. The shurikens fell to the ground, uselessly.

I fell off the trees. "Ow!" I exclaimed.

"Do it better." She said, and bombed me with a shuriken.

There, many kunai knives bombed her, and when she countered it, a large log situated and nearly hit her.

"Just kidding!" She threw down an exploding tag and disappeared into the trees.

I looked next to Akiko.

"Did we get her?" Asuka asked.

A person grinned behind us.

"Not quite." Ayaka replied.

"Oh, no you don't." Akiko replied, and disappeared into a cloud of dust.

"Hey, no fair!" Asuka yelled to the air, wherever Akiko was. "Clone Jutsu? That's sabotage!"

"Sorry, Asuka. This is the end... for now." She pulled out a scroll. On the page, scribbled in neat handwriting was 'sleep'.

Kunai knives attacked her.

"Asu-nyan, move!" Akiko's voice yelled, as Asuka rebounded once again into the trees.

She watched as the kunai knife whiz past her, cutting off Ayaka-sensei's bells. Unfortunately, before they could fall in Asuka's hands, Ayaka caught it.

"Whoops. Sorry." She said, and flipped an exploding tag at her.

"Shi-" Akiko grabbed onto Asuka and threw her into the trees, as it exploded.

"Kiko-chan!" She yelled, then dramatically got on her knees and pretended to be sad. "You were strict but you were my best friend..."

"Shut up, you idiot, and move before she finds us!" Akiko said behind her.

"Hey, you never told me you knew how to do Shadow Clones!" Asuka yelled, and a kunai with a exploding tag attached to it whizzed by them.

"You're hopeless!" Akiko yelled, and dived toward the bomb.

"Holy crap, you were another Shadow Clone?" She questioned as the clone exploded, sealing the tag in a isolated area, but a chip of wood fell onto her arm.

The real Akiko ran beside her. "Oh, you're hurt!" she said. She grabbed a pad and wet it with alcohol and quickly grabbed tape. She taped it to Asuka, and then...

That's when things started to go wrong.

Akiko couldn't heal me with a shadow clone, or else when that shadow clone disappeared, the bandage would've too. Akiko jumped back into the trees.

"Thanks!" Asuka yelled at her, but she was gone.

Ayaka put a dagger to her throat as soon as she blinked.

"Good night," she said, and activated the sleeping scroll on her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Naruto Fanfic**

**Chapter Two: Akiko Ikeda**

So, Asuka was asleep. What else was new?

It's what she and Akiko did all class anyway.

Akiko groaned. She had gotten Asuka. There was a fail on that part.

Yet she still stared. She didn't mean to kill them. She attached the scroll to Asuka to induce even more sleep.

_There has to be something to this_. Thought Akiko. _Obviously we can't catch up to her, she's a freaking Jounin. There has to be some catch. We can't touch her. Not individually..._

Of course! They had to work as a team! But... Asuka was gone, and the whereabouts of Yukiko she didn't know about, so they were _still_ screwed.

Akiko ducked as a kunai knife whizzed by her ear, on the writing was 'sleep'

"Shoot!" she yelled, and jumped to the side before it released it's gasses. She looked behind her, and Ayaka stood.

"Looks like you're done for, too." She said, and started to pull out the scroll.

Then, a lash of black entered the field, with identical blades in a whirling motion.

Akiko's eyes widened. She wasn't trying, so it wasn't her Kage Bunshin—Shadow Clone... there was only one person it could be.

"I see..." Ayaka said, dodging both the blades with ease.

Standing in front of her was Yukiko Mataki.

Ayaka sighed. "Great," she complained with a slight grin, "now I need to actually try and do something."

-o-o-o-

She formed hand seals so fast, Akiko couldn't even see them. No doubt she memorized not only all the hand seals for this jutsu, but she must've mastered all of them.

"Suiton! Suishouha; Water Release, Water shock wave!" A wave of water utilized out of no where and nearly hit Yukiko.

She fell down, but got back up.

"_What a drag."_ was Shikamaru's catchphrase. But she wouldn't be a drag. She wouldn't be a burden on Yukiko.

"Hey, Ayaka!" She protested, averting her eyes from Yukiko, "Come pick on someone your own size!"

It was better than expected. That was what her heart was saying. What her brain was saying was not very confident, seeing as it practically screamed, "please don't hurt me! I am a helpless ant!"

Ayaka smiled. "Fine," she said, and brushed off her shoulder, "you'll go down first."

"I'm better at medical ninjutsu, so..." Ayaka said, then jumped up.

She looked around. She was nowhere in sight, but she knew she was there.

_A fake out_, Akiko thought, _I need to cause something and then in the meantime solve all the other places she can go._

Before she had time to think, a foot nearly hit her face. Her eyes widened, and she ducked just in time. It hit the tree where it made a giant crevice.

"Are you intending to kill me!" I yelled, jumping back. Then I noticed something. She smiled. I looked behind me. There, Ayaka also stood.

Shadow Clone! Akiko realized, as it pulled out a scroll.

This is the end, she thought, then a wave of black and silver whizzed through the air, like a tornado, totally dominating the shadow clone.

She forgot about the real Ayaka. When Akiko turned back, she jumped at us.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Akiko said, and used the clone to maneuver myself over to the side, having Ayaka quickly switch weapons from Scroll to Kunai and stabbed the clone, which ended up disappearing.

This went on for a while, and then she hit Yukiko in the back of the neck. She fell to her knees.

"No fair, you're a medical ninja! You know pressure points and acupuncture!"

She went to the back of Yukiko, and pulled out the scroll. There was nothing Akiko could do, but she yelled, "Yukiko, behind you!"

And the floor blew up. She didn't know Ayaka would mean to kill, even if she had told them to...

but then the explosion cleared, and on the floor was a log.

"Substitution jutsu..." she said. She hadn't even thought of that... but either way, it didn't help much, as Ayaka saw right through it and moved to the left, where Yukiko was hiding.

Yuki jumped away immediately, over to the left of me. Then Ayaka disappeared... Akiko blinked. She was no longer in her former area... in less than a second. She looked behind. Ayaka had already activated the jutsu. There was a bright light, and they blacked out.

-o-o-o-

When she woke up, they were near three stumps of wood. Asuka was tied up.

"Hey!" She complained, "let me go!"

Ayaka sighed, "Well... I'll let you two have lunch, but don't feed Asuka... or else it's an automatic fail." She handed us some chicken and noodles, while Asuka sat on the trunk, tied up.

"This is _not _fair." She complained, as she always does. "How were we supposed to catch up to a Jonin's standards?"

"We were supposed to work together," Akiko said, and Asuka looked at her with complete surprise, "but... how?"

"Obviously, we knew in the first place three Genin fighting randomly and individually wouldn't defeat a Jonin, even if we were at a standard level. Any idiot could figure that out. But there's the fact that there was a mix. Everything has a point, because she would obviously realize even before she did it, that we were no match for her. Plus, she probably chose this because it's proven to be the hardest. No one has ever passed, and she hates having the drag of carrying the burden of handling a group. I did research on her overnight."

Akiko paused... and looked at her food. She glanced at Asuka, frowning.

"You can have mine," she said, holding out her food... Akiko was a bit hungry, but managed to ignore it.

Asuka's eyes widened. "No, you're my friend. I live like this anyway. It doesn't matter."

Akiko was tempted to shrug, and take it back. But Asuka was her friend. She refused to desert her...

She grabbed a ball of rice and shoved it in her mouth.

"Idiot, just take it!" she said, angrily.

Asuka chewed, and swallowed.

"You aren't supposed to give me food!" she said.

"But..." she smiled, "You're my friend."

"Well... fine." She said, and ate another riceball.

"I could get out of this easily," Asuka offered, but Akiko ignored her. Ayaka was still here, she could feel it.

She jumped out of the trees. Ayaka-sensei, that is.

"Okay, okay. You pass." She said, a bit of disappointment in her voice, but a pinch of respect.

-o-o-o-

"Woot!" Asu-nyan cheered, jumping around. She noticed her ropes were all cut up, and she was out... how did she just get out of that? That's what she didn't understand.

"Tomorrow, go to the ramen shop. You know, that good one you always see Naruto Uzumaki at. Ichiraku? Yeah. They're having some sort of Meet-and-Greet for all Genin ninja." She said, and waved. "You may be a bit drowsy for the next few hours, in side-effects of the sleeping scroll, but you should be fine after." She said, and waved slyly as she left.

-o-o-o-

At the Meet-and-Greet, Team 16 saw all the ninja.

All of them had changed their outfits since they were academy ninja. There was a general craze for mesh, as most wore.

Asuka looked over to Tazuki and the others. She smiled at her, and she looked and smiled so slightly back.

"Hey, Zuki-chan! How'd you do on your first test?" Akiko asked.

"I hardly passed... I got a partial . I got 7/30..." She sighed, "we were supposed to demonstrate resistance to each jutsu..." She looked like she would punch something.

They decided to leave her.

Akiko looked over to the side, where the older, 1-year or older genin hung out.

There was this lady, who seemed mature. She hung out with this dude with eyebrows as big as Asuka's water bottle, and another who was part of the same clan as Hinata and Inari, the Hyuuga clan.

"Hey," Asuka said, as simple as possible, "What's up?"  
"Hi," the girl said, and looked away.

"I'm... Nekono, Asuka... and you are...?"

"Ayumu Saruwatari... Now leave me alone." We left, hearing her talk about Ikuto... Ikuto someone, who Asuka seemed slightly interested in, seeing as her eyes widened.

Akahana ran up to them. "Yuki-chan, Kiko-chan, Asu-nyan!" she smiled with delight, but in Akiko's eyes, it somehow always looked fake.

She ran up to us and sighed. "What was your first test? Mine _sucked._ I mean, like, it was so easy!" _I wish ours was too, buddy_. Akiko thought. "All we had to do was a written exam, and we were done. That was totally boring. I aced it... for the most part. Just didn't do well on genjutsu, and got half-marks on taijutsu." She smiled, "but nevertheless, I beat those stupid boys! I got 25/30. They got 24/30! Ha!"

"Who's your sensei?" Akiko asked.

"Her name's Tsumugi. Imagine a blonde cheerleader in a cool outfit. That's her."

She nodded, when Akahana suddenly said, "So, do you think you'll make the Chuunin exams?"

"What the hell is the chuunin exams?" Asuka asked.

"This thing where you become Chunin, obviously. I don't got much detail, but it's supposed to be the interval." Akiko replied, sternly.

"Oh." Asuka said, before they knew it, it was over.


	3. Chapter 3

**Naruto Fanfic**

**Chapter Three: Yukiko Mataki**

"I'm a mountain that has been moved... I'm a river that is all dried up... I'm a ocean nothing floats on... I'm a sky nothing wants to fly in... I'm a sun that doesn't burn hot... I'm a moon that never shows it's face... I'm a mouth that never smiles... I'm a word that no one ever wants to say..."

That was Yukiko's motto...

After the meet and greet, and a few missions, it was time for the Chunin exams everyone dreaded for.

"Oh, hi guys." A voice said behind us, as Yukiko turned, the familiar face confronted them. She met those brown eyes with her own blue, noticing it could only be our sensei, Ayaka.

"He-llo-Aya-ka!" Asuka said cheerfully, with a slow tone.

There was an awkward pause.

"Okay, now that we've got our daily stupid delivered to us, I need to tell you something Asuka." Ayaka replied.

"What is it?" Akiko asked.

"Asuka; you shouldn't sign up for the exams." Ayaka replied.

"Why?"  
"Because it's dangerous, and you might be..." she glanced up at the ceiling, and paused. "actually, never mind. Go and take your best shot. In fact, fight that Gaara dude." and left.

"Our forms..." Akiko said, and hustled them out of the bag.

Standing near the doorway were two men, who wouldn't let anybody in. The sign said, '3-A' which was our floor, to the first section of the chunin exams.

"Wow!" Asuka said, staring at the man, and flicked his forehead. He didn't move. "These men are as stiff as stone!"

_Asuka. Ignorant as ever. _Thought Yukiko.

She looked at Akiko. Something wasn't right. Those people would've reacted. They both knew how Chunins acted in Konoha. To genins, they acted high-up. Well, at least most of them.

Akiko nodded. She had figured out. She put her hand up in a formation.

"Kai, Release."

Yukiko usually knew when a genjutsu was activated, but I had to rely on Akiko to get out of it.

The area shifted. It said '2-A' one sign under.

"Let's go up the steps." said Akiko, grabbed a protesting Asuka.

"We're here." Akiko said.

"You don't say?" replied Asuka, a sarcastic tone deep in her voice.

They handed the men their permission forms, who politely gestured us inside the room, filled with genin, of course considering the tactical group organization (Boy, Girl, Boy.) There were more boys than girls.

It was it. Now, or never. The always horrible Chunin exams.

And it was supposed to be written out.

"Quiet down, you baby-faced degenerates!" A scarred man hollered, and then there was an ominous hush throughout all the genin. "I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor... and from this moment, your worst enemy!"

"Well he's nice," whispered Asuka.

"These first exam parts... are written."

Everyone started mumbling, because they didn't usually do written exams. They would prove their physical strength rather than their mental, but Yuki and Akiko understood the point of it. To see their mental abilities.

"Hand over your paperwork," He said, and then put up a number '1', "And in return you will get a number. This number determines where you will sit. We will begin the written tests when you're seated."

Yuki walked over, and handed her my form. I got '16'.

_How lucky,_ she thought, _I get the same number of my team._

Akiko got 38, and Asuka got 43.

After they were seated, he tapped his chalk on the board.

"All right, now that you're seated listen closely, 'cause I'm not going to repeat this again, and," He emphasized his voice to make a point, "no questions."

"Rule number One is this: The written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system," he said, writing it on the chalk board. "contrary of what some of you may be used to, you all begin the task with a perfect score of ten points. One point will be deducted each time you get a question wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be seven."

"I know that 10 – 3 equals 7, thank you very much," I muttered.

"Rule number two: Teams will pass a fail based on the scores of all three members."  
There was a collective gasp around the room.

"Hey, wait a second! You mean we all get scored as a team?" Sakura yelled.

That's what he said, and he also said no questions, dear. Yukiko told herself.

"Shut up. I have my reasons." He continued, and ignored her questions.

"Rule number Three: The sentinels placed around the room are placed to prevent you cheating. Every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprits' score."

A lot of people murmured words similar or identical to, "What?" "Huh?" or, like her, "yawn."

"Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp. If they catch you five times, you'll be dismissed before the tests are scored. Anyone foolish enough to be caught by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here."

They looked at them suspiciously, and one even threatened: "I got my eye on you guys."

"If you want to be content shinobi," he smiled, "Then show us what exceptional ninja you are."

Yuki knew she and Akiko were fine, but she didn't know about Asuka.

"One more thing," He said, "If any candidate should get a zero and fail, then the entire team loses."

Yuki's eyes widened, and I glared at Asuka. If she had had water in her mouth, she would've done a spitake.

"What did he say?" yelled Sakura.  
Shut up.

"I don't get it." A genin from the back table yelled.

"Get the hell outta here!" Ibiki yelled back, and sighed.

"The final question won't be given until 45 minutes into the exam. You have an overall hour..." He paused, and yelled suddenly, "Begin!"

Yuki stared at her paper, and almost automatically filled out the name and date.

With Asuka here, she wasn't sure they'd be able to pass.

Aside from that, she looked at her own paper. It was a deciphering code. This was a piece of cake. Akiko rocked at deciphering, and her herself was okay... but this seemed like too much.

Yuki only got simple words like '1' and 'I' and 'store,' etc.

She looked around, and Sasuke had Sharingan activated. She looked at the other side, and Neji had Byakugan activated. Tenten had a few mirrors she was using to cheat, when she learned the whole point of it was to cheat.

She flicked her finger, and someone's test flew into the air.

"Hey!" he yelled, and walked across to catch it. She had it land closest to the stupid Waterfall ninja next to her, making it look more as if he cheated rather than she did, but never the less, looked at the paper.

She answered it correctly, or so she hoped.

He grabbed his test and looked distastefully at him.

That continued for a while, with the poor waterfall ninja getting troubled. She did it four times, so she decided to not get him out. She turned to the other side and tortured the sand ninja.

After four times on _that_ ninja, she went to the front, and flicked a few papers. She was able to see still, so she copied it down.

She raised her hand to make it look like she wasn't cheating. "Sir, can we close the windows?"

He did so, and she flipped her paper over so no one could copy it.

"Are you ready for the tenth question?" Ibiki said, but paused. "There are some rules. You can choose to stay or leave. If you leave, you automatically lose and may take the test again next year."

"Then who'd want to leave?" yelled a dirty blonde girl from Sunagakure in the back, who's hair defied gravity.

"But if you stay and do not pass the tenth question, then you may never take the Chunin exams again. So if you would like to lose, please state so now."

There was a long pause before Yuki heard a voice, yelling, "I give up! I don't want to do it! Not for my team!"

A lot of people raised their hand, vouching to leave.

We should quit. Yuki said to herself. Asuka would've probably failed the tenth question, as she did with the other nine. But if we could take the test again next year, she would be able to tutor her...

Yuki looked over at Naruto who raised his hand, surely but shakily, she believed he would've decided to leave. He wasn't very smart, and wouldn't have wanted to endanger the group.

Then he slammed his fist on the table. "Don't underestimate me!" He yelled. "I won't quit, and I won't give up! Bring it on you jerk! Whatever you throw at me, I'll give it back to you a thousand-fold!"

Akiko smiled. Even the idiots would stay. She refused to be that idiot who'd choose to leave.

Ibiki frowned. "You will never get a chance again!" he said, but no one raised their hand. They were all in. They'd risk everything.

There was a long pause, as we waited. "You pass!" He yelled so suddenly, it put a jolt through her. "Say what?" Akiko heard Asuka yell, questionably.

"The whole point of the first part was to see your cheating skills. But of course, you need someone to cheat off of." He gestured to two people around the room, who bashfully raised their hands. "These people are already Chunin, placed for you to cheat off of."

"Information is very important. You—" There was a smash through the windows, as kunai knives whizzed about. It hit four corners of the room, and then dropped a parchment that read, _Mitarashi Anko, proctor 2: The Scroll War._

"There's no reason to be smiling when I'm the next proctor!" She yelled.

Akiko facepalmed. Ayaka-style, much?

"Anko, you're early," Ibiki said, and facepalmed along with them.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto Fanfic

Chapter Four: This Means War!

In a brief summary, all groups that had passed would be moving onto the Scroll war. There, they would get one scroll—heaven or earth. There, a race against the clock, you would get five days to collect the oppositional scroll, and meet the other groups that passed in the middle. Or, at least, how Mitarashi Anko explained, handing out some papers.

"What are these sheets of paper?" asked another one, quite strange.

"They're a release form that makes sure if you die, you won't sue us."

Someone else raised their hand. "I don't think your release form covers death."

"How the hell did you get past Ibiki?" she asked.

**o.-.o.-.o.-.o**

Asuka handed in her form.

"Okay, I want you to refill the form." the man told her.

"What's wrong with it?"

"I'm pretty sure your name isn't 'Your Mom."

"Ugh. Fine," She complained with a giggle, and snatched it, refilled, and handed it in back.

Mitarashi held up her hand. "On my mark, you'll go in. You have five days. Good luck! Go."

Everyone rushed in at the speed of light, except for little Group 16, who casually waltzed in.

"Hey, Kiko-chan, why don't we rush in? Or else we'll be beat, and we won't get there first." Asuka asked.

"Don't be an idiot, cat-ears." Yukiko insulted, "Those guys are fools. We need to get a plan, first. We have a full five days."

"Ah, I get it! Let's leave it to our number one strategist: Kiko-chan!" Asuka did jazz-hands on Akiko, as the other two kunoichi facepalmed.

"Okay, here it is;" she grabbed a stick out of many and drew something in the sand, making many dots and a polygon. She pointed to a group of three dots.

"We're here." she said, then pointed to the large square in the middle. "We need to go here."

"Nice work, Ikeda. What _else."_ Yuki asked.

"There's really no need to move around. Someone's bound to attack us, especially those cheaters who know where everything is and where all the groups would be... There are only few I'm worried about for precautions. First;" she began, holding up a finger, "Is Gaara. Of the Desert. I've evaluated that 'Of the desert' either means in Sunagakure, he's really popular and/or strong, or uses something desert-related. Either way, I'm not taking the risks of your life. This is an automatic retreat cost, okay?"

The girls nodded.

"Asuka." Akiko ordered, "Scout around. We'll meet back here in a few minutes. If you get attacked, the code is-"

"Neko-Nyan!" Asuka said, eagerly. "Sorry, but I just like that. No one would guess it either. So please, please, please!"

"Fine. Our code is Neko-Nyan." Akiko nodded. "Let's go."

They headed out, and found nothing.

"Akiko?" Yukiko asked, as Akiko poked out of a bush, sighing.

"Nothing here," she said. "How boring. Who actually will become chuunin anyway? Honestly, in my opinion, this is just a distraction... Asuka, where are you?"

Asuka appeared from behind a tree, with a strange getup. She had somewhere gotten a blacksmith's belt—you know, the one that holds hammers and nails and attachable stuff—and a beer bottle.

The fake Asuka smiled. "Like, hey guys!" She said, in a fake accent—which she didn't have, as she took another drink.

"You're not Asuka." Akiko said.

"What-do-you-mean?" The dude said in his imitating accent.

"Dude. There are so many ways you're _not_ Asuka, it's not even funny." Yukiko replied, taking out a katana. "We don't even need the code."

There was a whisp of smoke as "Asuka" changed back into her original form.

The man looked quite strange. He had some sort of inhaler—or oxygen tank, or Darth Vader cosplay, really they weren't quite sure—a strange, black jumpsuit... and his face, you can't even describe it. It was like an ape... decided to take a poop on his head. His eyes were... different. Not that they could see much, in fault of his sunglasses, but it was a dark blue.

"You saw through my disguise. You're quite clever!" He said.

"Um... not really." replied Akiko.

"Let me guess—you're here to try and steal our scroll." Yukiko asked.

"Irony." Akiko faded in, and quickly faded out as he replied, "Well, that's the whole point, isn't it?" the man sighed, "I'll be back later... hopefully. I don't know when the others will be here, so that'll be a bother."

He left, just like that.

The real Asuka came. "Oh! Oh! Ohh!" She screamed, pointing at them. "I remember... I remember! It was... uh, Neko-Nyan!"

"That is correct," Akiko said, and looked at all of us. "We need to move. It's almost dark, and we still haven't got a scroll."

"Well, Kiko, it _is_ only the first day."

Yuki scooped up the ground at her feet. "It isn't good enough." she looked at Asuka. "Don't be an idiot! It isn't even close to good enough!"

They both eyed her strangely, as if she were some sort of freak.

"I mean, sure. It's average. 'we're only girls. They need boys on their team, how are they going to be succesful?' 'They'll _never_ be succesful shinobi.' 'Girls? I doubt they'll pass, the best would be average.' Do you know what they say about 'Little Team Ayaka?'"

There was a long pause with the other two members looking at the ground.

Asuka spoke first. "You're right," she said, rare for the few in her life. "You're right, we are girls. And we can't pass some boys. We may have to accept that." she looked up sternly with a mean glare. "But that won't stop us from trying. We'll ace something, even if it isn't battle. Field work. Medicine. Who knows? But we'll get it. So I'm not going to sleep until we get a scroll, and go to the tower."

They all agreed.

"We need a plan." said Akiko, "We'll need an easy target. Let's hope Sasuke is off commission. I know it's really stupid with Sasuke, but other then that..." She bit her lip, "It's either Team Asuma or Team Seven... and I don't want to go to team Asuma. It's harder than you think, with Shikamaru there. Now, there we have Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. There, our only worry is Sasuke."

"But with Team Asuma, our only worry is Shikamaru..." Asuka said.

"I have a better idea: Why don't we just grab some _other_ village's scroll?" I protested.

"Because we don't know their capabilities."

"Then how'd you know Gaara's capabilities?"

"Rumors. Duh."

They took a vote. We ended up choosing Naruto's group.

"okay. I have to warn you though... If things go wrong... Asu-nyan, you get Naruto. I'll get Sakura, and Yuki can get Sasuke."

"Can't I just kill Sakura? I mean, this is the perfect chance."

"NO." Akiko emphasized, "No killing. Injury? Sure. Broken? Why not? But no killing."

And we moved out.

The reason Yukiko wanted to kill Sakura was because... only for one reason. She's _annoying as hell._ No lie! She's all like, "Sasuke this" and "Sasuke that" It just made her sick to the bone. She knew it wasn't a good reason, but really. She thought Sasuke would be _happy_ to get rid of that slut.

_No_. No, she didn't like Sasuke Uchiha, you dirty, dirty girls. Him and his sick little fangirls, as he complains, "My clan's dead. I'm so sad." Well if he thinks _he's_ the only one-

She bit her lip in sadness, thinking about it. She kept going.

"Their gate should be close... all we have to do is figure out-" A loud crash issued from a nearby area, as Akiko finished. "-Where they are."

"Oh! Oh! I have an idea!" said Asuka.

"You don't say?" I replied, as we headed over there.

**o.-.o.-.o.-.o**

We hopped down, to see Sasuke and Sakura staring at a man, seemed to be negotiating.

Yeah. In the Chunin exams, you don't negotiate.

"Okay. Asuka, you and me will head out to find Naruto. Yuki..." She bit her lip. "Be careful, okay?"

I nodded. I grabbed my twin katanas on my back and prepared. Fun fact about me, I don't attach blades on my belt. I attach them to my back. Not literally, of course, but... you get it. I jumped, in the swirling motion I usually do.

I looked at the guy.

"Yukiko!" Sakura said, surprised.

"Well, you're a real chip off the old tooth, aren't you?" I said.

"Yukiko Mataki, aren't you?" He asked.

I lowered my guard in surprise. "How did you..."

He flicked his tongue. I flinched.

"I have my ways..." He said in his snaky tone.

_"My name is Orochimaru... I'm guaranteed you'll remember it."_ said a similar snaky voice, many years ago.

He couldn't be it. Maybe it _was_ a bit similar. But this guy looked nothing like the freak. This guy was freakishly close, but it wasn't... was it?

She decided to put that thought out of her head.

Sasuke scowled at me. "Thanks Yukiko, but we've got it."

"Chill, Uchiha-kun." I replied.

"You'd _love_ to get your hands on our earth scroll, wouldn't you?" she... or he, I don't really know... asked Sasuke, holding up her own scroll.

And swallowed it.

I'm not joking. Her tongue wrapped around the scroll and put it in. There was a lump in her throat when she swallowed it.

"Well, when this is all over..." she licked her lips... "One of us will have both scrolls."

She pulled down her eye, similar to Ino's mocking gesture, and my body went rigid. Sakura dropped to the floor.

**o.-.o.-.o.-.o**

"We've got to look for Naruto. He might have the scroll." Akiko told Asuka, as they jumped.

"Why would they trust Naruto to hold the scroll? Shouldn't it be with like, Sasuke or something?"

"That's the reason they might've hidden it by Naruto... no one would predict it."

There was a large popping noise up close, and a man in an orange jumpsuit flew by. As the girls dodged him, he slammed into the tree behind them and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"I found him." said Asuka, as they saw Naruto standing by a giant snake with a big hole in it's throat.

"Wow Naruto... looks like you're better than I thought!" exclaimed Asuka.

"Not really... looks like he got eaten first." said Akiko with a grin, pointing at the outward pull of the snakeskin.

"I need to see Sasuke!" he yelled.

"Wait. Do you or do you not have the Heaven scroll." Akiko asked.

"Why should I tell you?" asked Naruto.

"Because if you don't... then we won't bother." said Asuka.

"Sasuke has it." said Naruto.

Akiko sighed. "Onto the next group!"

"Wait. We're already exposed... and they don't have another scroll... do you?" asked Asuka.

"We don't."

"What if we helped them get a scroll, and then we get one?"

"That would work... but I need to get there first!" claimed Naruto, as he headed out.

"All right!" cheered Asuka, and followed Naruto.

"Asuka—Naruto!" yelled Akiko, and chased after the rambunctious two.

o.-.o.-.o.-

Was she going to die here? She couldn't. She needed to kill him... he reminded her too much of him...

The lady pulled her kunai and threw it at them.

And Sasuke stabbed himself. Just like that. Before the kunai hit them. He stabbed himself in the thigh, grabbed Yukiko and Sakura, and ran.

As the snake lunged toward Sasuke, he screamed something, and threw shurikens at it. The snake froze, and a crack appeared in the multiple barrage of scales.

"I sense you fear and desperation..." she said, emerging from the crack. "It's only natural that prey must never let down it's guard, not even for a moment..." she smiled and looked at us, "in the presence of it's predator."

Her body wrapped around the tree, slithering up, when shurikens bombed her, stopping herself in her tracks.

"Looks like I came just in time!" said a familiar voice, in an orange jumpsuit.

Sakura looked up. "Naruto!" she hollered with a smile.

"Oh, and by the way... what was that password again?" He asked Sasuke. Looks like he had the same idea as us.

And then Yukiko finally got out of the genjutsu. Last.

"Neko-nyan incoming!" something yelled from the leaves, and tumbled onto the branch.

"Asuka, wait!" yelled Akiko, following Asuka.

"So what was the password again?" asked Naruto.

"Forget it, Naruto. We know it's you!" Sakura retorted.

He smiled, when Sasuke interrupted.

"Naruto! Get out of here! What are you thinking? You're no match for him! Hurry, go now! While you still have the chance!"

There was a long pause, and then Naruto replied, "Okay, okay. I don't know what's going on here, but you've been picking on my friends, and I don't like it! So you just better slither on back to your hole before I make a pair of shoes out of you, dattebayo!"

"Naruto can't take that lady on... she's pulling Sasuke to his limit, and he thinks he can do it?" whispered Akiko to Asuka.

"You can have our scroll! Take it and leave us alone." Sasuke replied, pulling out his heaven scroll—which was just what Team 16 needed.

"You're giving our scroll to the enemy?" yelled Naruto, "what's wrong with you?"

As Sasuke threw it, Naruto jumped in the middle and grabbed it.

"Idiot! You don't know what you're doing! This—"

Naruto spun over and punched Sasuke.

Akiko grabbed Yukiko. "We have to go." she said, trying to pull her.

"No."

"No?" She said, surprised. "No... no... um... I wasn't expecting that. Um... please?"

"No. I don't like this girl, so I'm not doing as such." she replied.

The man's head popped off and reared at her. Yukiko was aware, because... well, it's a giant head going toward you while the body was 50 meters away. She moved aside and she realized the head wasn't after her.

It was after Sasuke.

But it was too late for regrets. The man had already bitten him.

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Sas-kay!" repeated Sakura over and over, to Yukiko's delight.

Naruto was unconscious. Sasuke was unconscious. Akiko and Asuka didn't want to fight... but they could assist them.

The man left, telling Sakura something out of the group's range of hearing.

**o.-.o.-.o.-.o**

They helped Sakura drag Naruto and Sasuke under a tree.

Asuka sat down.

Akiko sighed. "This wasn't part of the plan, but if I can improvise..."

She eyed the two members of her own group. "Asuka. Yukiko. We're going to get some food. Let's go." and they left.

Now, ignorant humans of earth; not in the shinobi world, if you believe they were actually going to get food, you were quite incorrect in many ways. They were going to get something—at the time, more useful than a simple piece of water or fish, or anything else you could possibly think of in the wild.

They were after a Heaven scroll.

Team Sixteen weren't able to find one. The scroll found them.

After three hours of searching, they brought in some fish for their little farce they pulled earlier, along with purified water. There was a rustle in the bush.

Asuka pointed over there, and her nails extended their reach, reaching it up to the neck. Unfortunately, there was more than one.

"Har har har!" said the strange voice from earlier, "we had to take the forest Detour to get here, but we finally got here."

"Augh!" screamed Asuka, "It's been, like, four days already! Can't you just let us go?"

"No. We must over-extend these moments against Konoha just to kill you, because our stupid little 'waterfall' village isn't good enough! We'll show you!" he laughed.

They reared in all at once. Asuka lengthened her nails. Yukiko prepared her katanas, and Akiko reached for two special, five-inch poles in her pocket.

"Akiko, what the hell are _those_ going to do?" asked Asuka, as they jumped off from their safety zones and into the field.  
"Shut up, and get ready!" yelled Akiko. "First ribbon; ribbon of fire!" as she finished, a flaming1-millimeter by 3-centimeter string sprouted off of the pole.

Asuka slashed at lightning speed with her un-penetrable nails and releasing fireballs. Yukiko warded them off with light gusts of wind and hard blows and slashes from her katanas.

But Akiko was graceful. She spun on one foot, and five enemies got stuck in her burning string, getting slightly burnt along the way. Directed to her second pole, during her arabesque, she yelled: "Second Ribbon: Ribbon of Poison!"

Multiple times, she spun, did cartwheels, used her hand as a propping board, and if one—just one surpassed her ribbons, one would prop off the battle arena, she would use it as a blast-off, and kick them, as the ribbon quickly went back to it's place.

When there were only ten left, one of his clones faced him. "See? I told you not to choose this group! Just because they're all girls doesn't mean they're weak!"

"No, it does! Girls are supposed to be weak." another one argued.

"That's why they're medical ninjas!"

All the others joined in the argument, when Team Sixteen finished their fights.

"Excuse me," said Asuka nicely, "What kind of scroll do you have?"

"A-" started one, but retorted back to one of the clones: NO, I did not! "A heaven scroll."

"D'you think we could have it?" she asked politely again, and he threw it at her. "GO! Now leave us alone!" and then continued their new argument gotten somehow twisted from 'The group of girls' to 'How you get aids.'

"That was simple." said Yukiko. "And now we need to go to the tower."

There was a crash nearby, as someone yelled, "Really? Why does everyone have to come help _Sakura?_ Sakura! Of all people!"

"Ha! And now not even Sasuke can help you!" yelled a man, and blasted wind out of his arms.

Now, they could easily jump into the scene to save Sakura, but it didn't look like she needed it.

"Oh, shit!" the mummy dude yelled, as Sasuke woke up, and all hell broke loose.

He looked at Sakura. "Who did this to you?" He asked, but before Sakura could even reply, the dude with air coming out of his arms spoke up. "I did! What'cha gonna do about it?"

And Sasuke ripped the dude's arms off. Because of un-nessasary violence portrayed in this, we will give only a brief explaination, "Oh, god, My arm! Oh, JESUS, Gyah! They're not supposed to bend that way—Oh, lord! Oh! Guah! Guah!"

"Um, ew." said Asuka, in our little back-stage view.

As Sasuke started to advance to attack the others, Sakura ran behind him and hugged him.

"Stop it, Sasuke!" She yelled, and the markings... or bruises... on his face subsided back into an area on the back of his neck.

"Sakura...?" he asked questionably.

And that was the only exception when Sakura was allowed to yell "Sasuke!" on Yukiko's behalf and presence.

The other group had ran away. Sasuke came to Team Sixteen.

"We don't need your help anymore... you can go find your scroll and go to the center." he said while walking past them, not glancing at them...

Except for Yukiko. Their eyes met for only a moment, before he sneered and looked ahead.

They had no trouble getting there. Akiko released the genjutsu's they walked into, Yukiko barred off any opponents, and Asuka ran along, singing, "The cutest boy I ever saw was sippin' cider through a straw~!"

When they got there, there was a slight disagreement.

"We'll see what's in it when we're there." Akiko said, and headed in.

"Why aren't you coming?" asked Asuka, looking at Yukiko stare out into the distance, clutching the upper side of her left arm, as she occasionally did.

Yukiko grimaced, hoping no one would notice her slight excuse not to go in.

"Uh, well, I want to stay outside. I'll come in, like, three seconds. I just want to look out one more time."

As they went in, there was a cloud of dust make it's way outside, as Asuka placed the scrolls open.

There was a picture of Gui shirtless.

"Oh, god! Oh, dear fucking christ, someone gouge out my eyes!" yelled the cat eared girl, as Akiko said, eyes closed, and only glanced at the scrolls. "Wait! They're upside-down!" She flipped them over. "That should do it..."

There was another puff of smoke as our sensei appeared, and Yukiko finally walked into the room.

"_Why would they do that?"_ Asuka yelled, rubbing her eyes of the faded mentally scarring images.

"Aw, I just like screwing with you. Either way, get your in there and show them who's boss." She winked. "Oh. And I have to show you the whole point of this. Well, heaven's supposed to be the mind, past the clouds, able to go to infinity, while earth is the body, tied to this stu-I mean, wonderful astral plane that keeps you landed." She smiled. "There. Now get your asses in there!" She gestured toward the wide doors, which opened and revealed an assortment of people standing, getting ready for the third part, viewing many people lined up, with the Hokage, Mitarashi Anko, and this sick looking man.

"Here we are," said Akiko.

"Let's go." assisted Yukiko.

"Oh, yeah!" cheered Asuka, and Team Ayaka made it through the barrier separating the pass and fail of the second part of the chunin exams.


	5. Chapter 5

**.Naruto Fanfic**

**Chapter Five: Broken Records**

When they got in there, there were groups lined up horizontally, each with their members, along with a sick-looking shinobi.

"My name is Gekko Hayate." The sick man said, "And there are too many of you. Therefore we will hold a preliminary round before the actual thing, displayed on this computer." he gestured towards the large screen, "it's randomized and will pick names..." he started coughing hysterically. "There are no holds barred. Any ninja weapons are allowed. The first match is..."

The computer displayed in LED lighting, 'Sasuke vs Sasuke'

"What the—you stupid computer!" and then kicked it. It changed.

'Asuka vs Your Mom'

Anko looked at Ayaka.

"Hana, did you program this computer?" she asked.

"May-be!" Ayaka replied with an innuendo.

Then the real match got it and displayed Sasuke vs Yoroi.

Sasuke won.

While Hayate was about to introduce the next match, he started a coughing fit.

"We'll wait until Hayate stops coughing until we start the next match." the Hokage replied, as everybody was waiting. It was about the same as watching a feather fall; quite boring.

"Okay, the next pair i—" he continued his coughing fit.

"Stop it already!" everyone exclaimed.

"Sorry. The next match is..."

'Shino vs Zaku'

In the stands, they looked down.

"Isn't this kind of unfair? I mean, he's kind of fighting a guy with no arms." Asuka asked in the stands.

Shino won.

o.-.o.-.o

'Kankuro vs Tsurugu Misumi'  
Kankuro won.

o.-.o.-.o

"These matches are really boring and they _suck!_ Get us a good match, Hayate!" Ayaka exclaimed.

"But you're the one who programmed it-" but he knew how an argument with Ayaka would result... "Yeah. Sure."

'Sakura vs Ino.'

"Sorry." he replied.

It was a draw.

"I was expecting something else, but that turned out more disappointing than the 'All Monsters Attack' movie*." Asuka said, frowning.

"I haven't watched that one yet!" Ayumu replied, hastily and angrily.

"No more_ All Monsters Attack_ references, okay? Now, for the next match..."

'Godzilla vs King Kong'

"_What the hell did I just say?!_" yelled Gekko.

'Sorry.' The screen changed. 'Temari vs TenTen'

Temari won.

o.-.o.-.o

'Shikamaru vs Tsuki'

Shikamaru won.

o.-.o.-.o

'Kiba vs Naruto'

Amazingly, Naruto won.

o.-.o.-.o

'Neji vs Hinata'

Neji won.

o.-.o.-.o

'Gaara vs Rock Lee'

Gaara won.

o.-.o.-.o

'Dosu vs Choji"

Dosu won.

o.-.o.-.o

'Akiko vs Tsiri'

"Finally! Some exciting match! Good luck, Kiko-chan!" Asuka cheered, as Akiko walked down the stairway to her match.

"Eleventh Match; Akiko Ikeda vs Tsiri Kaito. Begin!" he yelled, and Tsiri grinned.

Tsiri jumped back to gain some distance, and threw a kunai knife at Akiko, who easily dodged it.

As Tsiri threw multiple more, Akiko rolled to the side, and pulled out Tsiri's kunai knife.

Poison.

She smelled the blade. Coated Poison. Was it deadly, or risked status infections? She'd have to figure out, dodging another blade.

This girl was equal to Tenten, a girl who had fought earlier. Not in quantity, but quality. Maybe a bit less. Yukiko would be a good match for her... but she wasn't allowed outside help.

She didn't quite have the equipment to analyze it either.

She spun, dodging another. If what she believed was true, this wouldn't work at all...

And she wanted to hide secrets, so she couldn't bring _that_ out...

She nodded. She threw a kunai. Sure enough, Tsiri's attention darted towards it, and she jumped and pulled it off the wall.

Akiko devised a strategy in her mind. When she confirmed and afflicted all the ways to counter it, she yelled, "Fifth Ribbon—ribbon of iron."

The ribbon was a grey color, and when she flicked it and it hit something, it solidified. This was more lethal than most of her ribbons.

She threw four poison tipped kunai knives, that Tsiri threw previously. Tsiri's eyes darted towards them, and as Tsiri bent down to take it, Akiko broke off part of the ribbon and threw it Tsiri's hand, acting as a spear. It shot through Tsiri's hand, pinning her to the wall.

"What the—" she started, but a kunai tipped with anesthetics was headed towards Tsiri's arm. It was only grazed, and Tsiri went stiff.

"Does that count? Akiko asked worriedly, which could be mistaken for sarcasm—although it wasn't—shouldered her bag, and bit her nails.

"Since Tsiri is unable to battle—the match goes to Akiko.

o.-.o.-.o

"Now for the Twelfth Match..." he said, and moved aside to view the screen.

'Kiku vs Tazuki'

"Kiku Tanaka... vs Tazuki Sarutobi. Begin." he said, giving a few splatters of coughs while moving aside.

_Watch me, Little Cous' Konohamaru!_ Tazuki thought, and grinned. _Watch me surpass you and become Chunin!_

Tazuki eyed Kiku, and Kiku gave a frown.

"Well? Are you going to go first? Or do I have to kill you before you do anything."

"Fine. I'll go first." Zuki insisted, and jumped back to gain some distance.

"Doton: Gansetsukon! Earth Release: Rock Staff!" Zuki said, and some of the dirt under the cement rose up and into her palm, creating a staff.

Kiku nodded, and leaped up into the air in a flash, spun around, and went above Tazuki, and as she was falling, yelled "Sand Twister!" and went down in a cartwheel formation.

"Doton: Ganchuro no Jutsu! Earth Release: Earth Pillar Prison!" Tazuki, surprisingly created a barrier on herself to block The Sunagakure shinobi's kick.

When the barrier came down, Kiku clutched his leg, looking as though he had been slapped by his best friend. "Who thought you that?!" he yelled, "Ninjutsu is the hardest jutsu type to learn! Who thought you?"

"Heh..." Zuki said, and coughed into her hand. Only one drop of the familiar red liquid. She was overdoing her chakra, but she still would have enough to beat Kiku... hopefully. "I _am _Sarutobi clan, don't 'cha know? That's the Hokage's clan, and with Uncle watchin' me, I can't be beaten!" Zuki stood up, slowly but steadily, took a deep breath... and charged, staff first.

Tazuki was bad with chakra. In fact, she was pretty bad at overall ninjutsu. She put up a forte, but she was really better at Taijutsu.

Zuki acted like a cheerleader. When she was there, she went into some sort of '_routine'_ that looked quite similar to one. 1, 2, 3, _whack._ 1, 2, 3, _whack._ 1, 2, 3, _whack._

Kiku wasn't really good at anything, as far as Ayumu—a girl in his group—or anyone else knew. He couldn't do Genjutsu. He was horrible at ninjutsu. He was mediocre at taijutsu... now, if she could switch Kiku with that Rock Lee, even that'd be better... and even _she_ could tell that other girl was running out of chakra... decent, that girl was, but honestly, even that _Sakura_ girl could've beat Kiku.

Tiger. A tiger seal. Tazuki made a tiger seal. Ayumu didn't know earth jutsu, but at Tazuki's limit, it would have to be a D jutsu... wouldn't it?

Tazuki need not try so hard. Even a small chink of Ayumu's power could put Kiku to a standstill. And he wasn't a genjutsu user.

"Doton: Doryu Taiga! Earth Release: Earth Flowing River!" she hit the ground, and mud appeared under Kiku's feet.

Kiku tried to jump, but when she did, she fell flat on the ground and started being slipped away by the brown current.

Tazuki. The one thing she was good at finally came in handy. Surfing.

She created a small rocky surfboard out of the rubble and hopped on. With the downward pull from the now slightly slanted arena, she halted to a stop and moved to the side, pointing her spear down at Kiku's throat, after he had reached the end of the landslide.

"Can this count as a win? Because seeing blood makes me sick." she gave a distasteful look of remembrance, as Gekko nodded. "The match goes to Tazuki."

"Yes!" she cheered, and jumped.

Kiku trotted onto the viewing area, with his own group, as Tazuki did, Inari and Akira complimenting her.

"Loser." taunted Kaoru, the final member of Ayumu's group.

"I'd like to see you do better," retorted Kiku.

"He probably can at least avoid a landslide." Ayumu snickered, and Kiku groaned.

o.-.o.-.o

"Next Match: Match Thirteen." Hayate claimed, and showed the board.

'Ayumu vs That Waterfall Nin Guy.'

the screen displayed. 'I think his name's Gorou or something. Eh, who cares. He's only here for the chunin exams, like everyone else. His only item is a _recorder_. Who cares. 'Oh! I have the power of RECORDER. Fear me!''

"_Really, Ayaka?_" Gekko asked, then sighed.

"Well, we haven't had an interesting one for a while."

He sighed, and coughed. "Match Thirteen, Gorou Nakamura vs Ayumu Saruwatari. Begin."

Gorou automatically pulled out his recorder.

"Really? This is insulting. Can't you put out like, a kunai knife? I'll beat you in a moment's time."

"Have you heard of Musical Genjutsu?" he asked.

"Duh. But it won't do anything. I know how to repel it."

"Heh. Good luck. What's _your_ weapon?"

She gave a light mix of a giggle and a "hmph." and said, "You'll have to find out!" she taunted, and he hit multiple notes.

Akiko bit her lip.

"What's wrong?" Asuka asked, sternly.

"I've heard that name before. Saruwatari... Saruwatari..."

Akiko gave a stifle of a gasp and peered over the side, looking as though she would throw herself off the barrier and run to the competitors. "If she's really Saruwatari, then Nakamura is done for."

"Why?" Asuka asked.

"Because the Saruwatari clan is known for the 'Chain Genkai.'"

"Chain Genkai?"

Ayumu avoided the sound. She moved so quickly, the only thing she could hear was wind.

Ayumu jumped high in the arena, and spread out her arms. There, chains came off of the walls and ground, and Ayumu grabbed her scythe and slid down the chain leading to Gorou.

She swung the scythe as if a baton, not leaving a scratch on herself, nor the chain. She treated it as a shield.

"That's like Yukiko's defense..." whispered Asuka, eyeing the battle fiercely like bees watching honey. "Speaking of, where's Yuki-chan? Her battle can start any minute!"

They nodded and looked around the arena.

Ayumu whipped the scythe as a two-in-one shield and sword, as Yukiko occasionally did.

"Not much of a challenge, she said, as the chains tangled him up and pulled him into a position where he was forced to let go of his recorder.

"Not much of a challenge... boring. Does this count as a win? He has no weapon, even if he did, he can't reach it, and yeah."

Gekko eyed Ayumu wearily, then observed Gorou Nakamura.

"The winner is Ayumu." Hayate said, as Ayumu walked towards the stands, grinning at Kaoru, who frowned.  
"I told you that it's just you." She grinned.

o.-.o.-.o

"Next Match!" He exclaimed, and looked towards the computer...

'_Akahana vs Aimi'_

"Yosh!" Akahana cheered, tying her hair in a messy, tangled, curly bun. "This is what I've been waiting for!"

"Wait," Iki-Ryo said, "You have to think calmly. Try and find out what she's—"  
"Think _calmly?_ That's the silliest thing I've ever heard! C'mon now, wish me luck." she said, absently waving her hands, as she jumped off the railing and planted her feet firmly on the concrete steps, seemingly okay.

Iki-Ryo sighed. "Well... good luck... I guess." he said.

"Fourteenth Match; Akahana Suzumiyah vs Aimi. Begin." He backed out of the way, to see Aimi grinning.

"What're _you_ so happy about?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes.

"What, you want me to go first?" she clasped her mouth with the hand that wasn't holding her hip, and gave a light giggle. "Well, that'll end up well."

"Heh, don't matter! No one has _this_ Kekkai Genkai!" Rose gave a grin,and pointed to herself, and giving a playful tongue. "Even though I've never used the other element... I still have it! And it can still work!"

Aimi raised her eyebrow. "Oh? Kekkai Genkai? Just like that chain girl, huh? What kind? Jutsu release? Dojutsu? Hmph, that Sasuke kid's the only one with sharingan, so that shouldn't be too bad."

"Well I'm not going to tell you!" Rose stuck out her tongue with a challenging look. "But you can go first!"

"My first is your last. You go, I insist." she gave a smirk. "I want myself—and everyone to see your talents."

"I don't need my talents to—" Akahana started to burst, until there was a similar one on the stands, most likely from Takashi, "Are you just going to _stand there_ or are you going to _fight? _"

Iki-Ryo punched him lightly. "It's their match." he insisted.

"Still! She was complaining about the match before that." Takashi implied blatantly. "And before that. And before that. We've been getting weird looks all day."

Iki-Ryo sighed. "Then don't copy her mistakes!"

"Oh, shut up. You sound like my mom."

"Oh, fine. But remember that you and your little ginger up there told me to." she snapped her fingers while giggling and then evaporated into thin air.

Akahana felt a wooshing sound by her cheek, and her hand darted towards it, her hand got cut rather than her cheek, but she knew what it was. A kunai.

But—this made no sense. She didn't see Aimi anywhere, and Aimi didn't hold her speed Ability—so how was she doing this?

A senbon bombed her just below the neck, hitting her spinal chord. Luckily, it wasn't the one that paralyzed people. Unfortunately, it hit the chord that made her run fast. She could no longer do it.

She only had one choice. She summoned a wave big enough to cover up to the stands in the arena, when it stabilized, it reached to the audience's feet, and Akahana swam and grabbed the bars. She looked down and saw bubbles. She had gotten her.

Rose hit the water with her hand, and Akiko got the memo in time. She threw a protesting Asuka in the air with her ribbon, and jumped up herself. The water that was previously under their feet was now ice.

Akiko, normally dealing with ice on a daily basis managed to stabilize her fall. Asuka hadn't fared so well, though, and slipped and fell on her behind.

Akiko looked around to find Yukiko, surprisingly floating on air. Literally.

The only ones who had fared well after were Akiko, Asuka, Yukiko, Ayumu, the Black-Ops, Sensei's, Proctors, Hokages, and the combatant herself—Rose.

"The match goes to Akahana." he said, as Black-Op ninjas thawed at the ice with katon jutsu—also as a bonus melting the audience's frozen feet too.

o.-.o.-.o

The next few matches flew by with soaring colors, which the groups cared no more than a small wisp of the word 'Inari Hyuga vs Takashi Keto," "Inari wins," "Haji vs Akira," "Haji wins..."

When things got riled up once the screen labeled in giant, neon letterings,  
'_Asuka Nekono vs Ikuto Nekono'_

This was the match Asuka had been waiting for. She had riled up throwing tantrums across the stadium asking when her turn was on. But seeing her odds, she didn't want to.

This startled all off them. Asuka had never talked about her clan... in fact, no one did. You'd just hear from rumors if it was a decent one or not. But... nothing was known about the Nekono clan. They knew Ikeda clan was full of strategies, and the Mataki clan... previously had four members, now only has two. Both of Konoha...

Ikuto. Another sibling rivalry. This would be exciting.

But not for Asuka.

Sibling Rivalry. This wasn't her cousin. This was no uncle.

"Match Seventeen—Asuka Nekono vs Ikuto Nekono. Begin."

"I ain't backing down now." Asuka said, and pointed her hands at Ikuto, and her nails lengthened. "I go first, bro."

o.-.o.-.o

It was a blur and flashes of nails and glares. Asuka's blonde whizzed around Ikuto's purple, occasionally yelling at each other between clashes.

"You can't compare, Asuka." Ikuto insisted. "You can't compare to my level."

"Why not?"

"No one likes you. No one cares for you. Not anymore. No one cares... _for us._" Ikuto said, and lunged towards his sister.

"They're gone!" Ikuto exclaimed. "You didn't want to see them, so they're gone! Forever now!"

Asuka froze. "G-Gone?" she whispered, looking down.

"Th-They aren't gone. I know it. Liar!" she started clashing with her own brother once again. "As if, you're trying to have me give up, aren't you? Well it ain't working, ya' hear?" she yelled.

"It's no lie, weakling Asuka!" he protested.

"The _name's Asu-nyan!_" she exclaimed, rebounding with a glare. Both indestructible nails struck against each other. "There are people who care about me!" she yelled, pushing him back, "So, even if they're gone, there are still people who care! Besides, they didn't care at all!"

"Do you know what I've went through? You guys didn't want me there! If it weren't for Kiko-chan, I wouldn't have made friends with anybody! Like Shikamaru! Or Yuki-chan! Sakura-chan! Hinata-chan! I wouldn't have met them!"

She slashed her nails as hard as she could. Ikuto's own indestructible weapons went in a defensive X instinctively.

There was a loud _snap._

"Asuk—no, Asu-nyan... I'm sorry." He raised his hand, full of broken nails.

"I, Ikuto Nekono, forefit from the match."

"Huh? What's wrong? Too _weak_ for ya'?" she threatened, "Well maybe another broken nail will teach you!"

"No, Asu-nyan. I haven't done my job, as a brother—no, as someone who cares about you." he said, and reeled himself into the stands.

"Ikuto nii-san..." Asuka muttered, and ran over and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I even broke your nails! I'm sorry!"

"They'll grow back." he said with a sigh, but they walked in the stands together.

o.-.o.-.o

Two people left. But who? Who couldn't have possibly went? Akiko asked herself, alone. Asuka wanted to watch the game with Ikuto. Suddenly, Akiko facepalmed. One of the girls who hadn't went was standing right next to her.

"Match Eighteen;" he announced for the eighteenth time,

'_Yukiko vs Daichi'_

Yukiko seemed bored at first. She jumped onto the bar acting as a barrier between here and the stage. She waved her hand dismissively at her discussion friend, Ayumu.

"See you." she said, and as she was about to jump, Ayumu interrupted.

"Yuki-chan..." Ayumu said wearily.

"I'll be fine. I'll be right back."

"Yukiko Mataki vs Daichi Souma. Begin."

Daichi readied himself, and jumped. But landed right on the butt of Yukiko's katana, defeated.

"Um... Yukiko wins." Hatake said. "Wow, I think that was a record."

"Damn straight!" Ayumu yelled from the stands.

o.-.o.-.o

"And that concludes the Preliminaries of the Chunin exams. All victors will come back in a month for the final part."

"Wait, what?" Asuka asked frantically. "What the hell? We have three tests in a row and then we wait a month?"

"Well, you need some training time." he said. "So, see you." and disappeared.

Ayaka snuck up from behind and hugged all her pupils' heads.

"Heh, looks like you all passed!" she said joyfully.

"But that's because you paired us with people you knew we could—" Akiko had started, but Hamano-sensei hadn't listened.

"Well, you need a break. You all did a damn good job. You have a week's vacation, then we'll start missions and stuff. Okay?" she said, and disappeared before any of the girls could even begin to object.

"We'd better get training." said Asuka, with a light sigh.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto Fanfic

Chapter Six: Yeah, That's Kumo-Tofu.

At the Hamano home, Ayaka received a blank letter.

_Hello?_ she wrote, and sent it out.

_It's Miho._ the letter replied.

_Miho? That's great. I was just about to send you a letter._

_Really? I wanted to see your writing. It's been a long time, Ayaka._

_Really? My. It has been a while, hasn't it._

_You needed something?_

_Yes. You still live in The Land of Lightning, right? I need to ask a favor. Can you get me Kumo-Tofu, please?_ she asked.

_ Yes, I can. Where at?_

_The border of Konoha, If you would. In the middle of Kumogakure and Konohagakure. I'm sending my squad to pick it up for me._ With that, there were no more returns. The conversation had ended.

In Kumogakure, a girl put down her pen, dripping ink on the cement. She began walking away from it, able to see an imprint of ponytails and a dress. The lights on the streetlamp flickered as she walked away. When she left, they turned off.

o.-.o.-.o

"Heard you passed." the other member at the Mataki household said with a smile, "And possibly made a record."

"Yeah," a more familiar voice said. And looked at the Television.

_"Serial killer makes another stand. Near Iwagakure. Two more killed. Only one survivor..."_

Yukiko grabbed the remote and turned the system off.

"How's Ui-sempai, Yuu-sempai and Jun-sempai?"

"Well, Ui's a chunin, Yuu's a jonin, and Jun's also chunin."

"I can tell why Ui-sempai and Jun-sempai aren't jonin... but I never expected Yuu either..." Yuki admitted.

"Either way, being Black-Ops, I know who your opponent is. So, I'm going to get the old group back together to help." the girl said.

"Really?" Yukiko said, changing her character momentarily. Then resorting back to her own. "I mean—seriously. Like, the Academy Ninja Dragons?"

"Yup."

"Hmm..." Yukiko considered, "That'd be nice." She shouldered her bag and walked out the door.

_She reminds me of myself... I hope they become fine ninjas,_ she thought_._

o.-.o.-.o

Asuka and Akiko sighed. Their Sensei was out on an S-Rank Mission she had said she would be back sometime next week, but those weeks had taken so long.

When the time was up, Yukiko had already understood the concepts of the new jutsu she had learned.

"Okayy!" cheerfully said the sensei, Ayaka Hamano.

"What's got you so cheerful?" Akiko said. This sensei was different than the one they had first met. This was not the lazy, carefree sensei.

"Huh? Oh, I decided you guys aren't that bad... I'll teach you. We have a mission from the Hokage." she said cutely.

"What mission?" they asked, all enthusiastic for a long-awaited mission.

"Well, it's a request from... Hana. She wants Kumo-Tofu. So she's sending a three-man squad to go retrieve it from a lady the border of Konohagakure. She's quite sweet."

"But what's wrong with Konohagakure Tofu?" Akiko asked.

"I-She just doesn't like it." the ninja replied.

"B-But Ayaka-sensei, we're a four-man squadron!" The kit exclaimed.

"Oh, it's fine. Besides, I'm always busy. Today's also my day off, you see. Well, it won't hurt, right? This'll be... your _first_ mission as only you three." she waved her hand dismissively. "Bye, now." the red-eyed woman disappeared.

o.-.o.-.o

Asuka walked towards the edge of the village. It seemed tranquil there. Most people did not visit this section, wary because of raids from Iwagakure. Ever since the Third Shinobi World War on Kannabi bridge, they had not been on friendly terms. As she walked by, it was still quite serene. They were only acquaintances with The Land of Lightning.

"Why does Ayaka-sensei take risks like this?" Asuka asked.

o.-.o.-.o

A graveyard.

That was where they were supposed to meet. It was eerie, because by the time they got there, it was night. It seemed as though it was a childhood game of a Courage Test. The moonlight shone on the matted dirt which cast a ghostly feel.

A eyes popped out from the shadow of a tree, startling all of them, because the eyes seemed to glint red for a moment, until coming into the moonlight. She had short blonde hair in pigtails, similar to Yukiko's, and golden brown eyes. They took a seat on a gravestone.

"I'm Miho... Here you go... here's the Kumo-Tofu your teacher asked for." She handed them a bag of Kumogakure Tofu.

"Thank you. Sorry to call you out to a place like this." Akiko replied, taking it. "You're not scared?"

"I'm fine. As long as you guys are here, you're shinobi, and taught by Ayaka." there was a awkward silence.

"Oh, yeah! The ryo for the tofu!" Asuka called. "How much is it?"

"No, it's okay." she replied.

"But that wouldn't be fair." the green-eyed girl insisted.

"I was just glad that your teacher asked me, Ayaka." Miho smiled. The girls stood up and started walking away.

"I said a moment ago you didn't have to pay for the tofu," she said behind their backs, "Instead, can I make a request of you? I just want one thing from you."  
Without turning back, Asuka repeated, "One thing?"

"Yes... your..." Miho muttered, with a light smile.

"Our..." Akiko said wearily.

A sharp sting went through Asuka as a blade pierced through her.

"life." she finished.

"What... Miho...?" she whispered. She fell to the floor. Miho's sword, soaked with blood, she whipped it to the side, cleaning it. Asuka disappeared. A clone. The others disappeared as well. Clones with transformation jutsu

"Aww, sure enough, you won't be that easy to kill." Miho looked at her blade. "How many times will I have to kill you before _you_ die."

Asuka emerged from the nearby tree.

"Who the hell are you?" Asuka said.

"You already know, don't you? I'm Ayaka's friend." she smiled.

"No way... that's not true, is it?" Asuka's eyes narrowed.

"Partially, but really, it isn't!" she said cheerfully.

"The same as you being a serial victim... and being the only survivor..."

"All untrue. After all, I'm the culprit."

"How'd you get everyone to think of you as a younger sister...?" Asuka asked, remembering one day running into a girl talking about Miho.

"They aren't, of course. I just changed their memories." she replied.

"But the only that can do that is ninju—" she gasped.

"You're getting awfully close to the answer, huh?" Miho smiled. She put her hands in a dispelling sign. It disappeared. It was also a clone, so it seemed.

"Now you understand, right?" Miho smiled, instead of the cheerful ones, she now had a menacing grin.

"You, a kunoichi?" Asuka said, getting in a fighting position. Her fingers laced her ribbons, ready for battle.

"I don't think I can change your memories, now that you know about it. I can only create new memories, not erase them. Oh well..." she frowned, then looked up again. "But I guess it doesn't matter, right? After all, you're going to die here. Once I kill you three, it'll solve... everything!" she charged at the three, quick as lightning. She was also were also quick on her feet though. Asuka lengthened her nails.

Miho kept slicing and dicing. Asuka, no time to block, dodged her hits. But Miho managed to get a kick in and sent Asuka flying.

"How can this be?" she asked. She jumped from the dust, swords barred. "Any normal kunoichi would be on the verge of death by now." Continuing to talk and slice, she said, "I can't have you snooping around, making trouble for me."

"She's good!" Asuka yelled, dodging another of her blades.

"And I was collecting souls so efficiently, too. Not to mention some ANBU appearing on me! Such a pain!" she backed up.

_Fifteen ANBU members dead..._

"So you're the culprit behind that too, huh?" Asuka asked.

"That's what I've been saying, right? Not very smart, are you." Miho replied. She put her hands in a tiger and a ball of light rushed toward Asuka. Asuka tried backing up, but as it hit her, she was frozen.

_Can't... move..._ she thought.

"One little barrier ninjutsu, and you can't move? It's laughable that you'd fight me with your puny abilities."

"What are you doing, Asuka?" Akiko asked, as if nothing had happened. "Where's Ayaka-sensei's Kumo-tofu?"

_You're more worried about the tofu than me?!_

"It seems you've done something stupid with her, and now she's getting back at you?" Yukiko asked.

_Even tonight your mean-ness mouth when I do something stupid is music to my ears!_

"Hey, say something, Asuka! What're you doing, playing statue?" Akiko insisted, looking at her closely. Then she noticed. "Oh. Barrier ninjutsu. In that case... Ha!" she tapped Asuka's face, and light that looked like glass broke from her body.

"Oh, I can move—" Asuka quickly fell over because of the position she was in.

"What are you doing? You're a Nekono, Asuka!" Akiko looked down on her at the floor, disappointed.

"So that's it." Miho said from the gravestone she stood atop of. "That's why my memory manipulation didn't work on you."

Akiko pointed at the girl, who looked sinister in the moonlight and her changed outfit. "Who's she, Asuka?"

"That's the serial killer who killed the ANBU and innocent people."

"Okay, so she's my enemy."

"Long time no see, Akiko." Miho said, smiling at her as if an old friend.

"I don't know who you are." she replied simply.

"It's Miho Ikeda, silly. Where'd you learn how to dispel barriers? You, who got held back in the academy."

"If you know how to create barriers, it applies to how you break them too." she said blatantly.

"You're as unbearable as ever." Miho said.

"Someone told me to come here, and our enemy's a kunoichi, is it?" Yukiko asked.

"Don't be deceived. She's a monster in a human outfit."

"Is she? How unlucky for us. Now we have to help you out. I told you not to go alone, but you didn't tell us when you were going."

Yukiko gripped her katanas. "It would seem there are more assassins in this city than there are in Konoha." She pulled them out and continued walking, and her eyes, sky blue, gained one ring around it that was a baby blue color, and her pupils turned the same baby blue.

"Ah, those eyes. You have doujutsu too, do you?" her eyes glared red. "Three against one? Asuka, you aren't very fair are you?"

"Here goes." Yukiko said, she ran at her with her swords in hand. She used the new jutsu her sister taught her.

"Hiken—Tsubame Gaeshi!" she swung them in an X pattern, and blue streaks headed towards Miho. Miho deflected it with her swords.

"It isn't perfect, and it's not very powerful. Let me show you my sword jutsu." she said. "Hiken—Osoto Gari!" Fire spun into her blade and shot at Yukiko, faster than she could dodge it.

"Yukiko!" Asuka said. However, another fireball was heading towards them. Akiko held out her hand, and the flames evaporated.

_She's genin. All her moves have weak points in them._ Akiko thought.

"Asuka, watch out for flames." she instructed.

Miho's eyes narrowed. "What disagreeable conduct." Two tornadoes headed towards them, and a yellow-tinted mist went their way.

"I can't... do anything about this one..." Akiko said, and the yellow mist put her in a genjutsu. Asuka knew she would be fine, because she knew how to get out of genjutsu.

"There. Now it's one against one again." Miho smiled evilly.

Yukiko got up. "No, it's still two against one."

"Yuki-chan! Are you sure you can still fight?" Asuka asked.

"Yes. But please Asuka, fight. Me, alone, I have no chance of beating her."

"I guess there's no getting out of it." Asuka said.

"Do you think you have time for second guessing you ca—" she bit her tongue. "Sorry. My mistake."

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to fight here, but I guess there's no helping it." Asuka readied herself.

"I suppose the battle begins here." Miho said.

o.-.o.-.o

"Now, if you please, die for real!" she sent the tornadoes spinning at terminal velocity at them. Asuka jumped and slashed at her with her nails. Miho blocked it.

"Let me ask you something! Why do you kill?" she yelled.

"Asuka, if you could gain eternal life by killing people, tell me, would you take it?" she grinned. Asuka considered it. Living forever... but then she remembered taking someone's life for it. Not even Yukiko would stoop that low.

"Don't be ridiculous!" she yelled. Miho took that opportunity to push her into the tornadoes. Miho grinned. "Now to finish you." she said. "Do you want me to grind up your body for you? Or perhaps..." The tornadoes seemed to rip at her limbs. She began to bleed. The tornadoes turned red.

"Would you like me to slice you up, so you can become a part of me?"

"I'm not taking either one!" Asuka yelled, she pulled against the wind, amazingly. Nekonos seemed invulnerable to her mental abilities. She could stop her. She grabbed Miho's hand. If it continued, she would drag her in.

"Let go of me!" Miho protested.

"I can't do that!" Asuka grinned.

"Let go! I said let go of me, you pig!" she yelled.

"I'm not a pig! I'm a cat! How does it feel to be done in by one?"

back, there was a opening in the tornado. Yukiko used the wind to help her get through the gap, and stabbed under Asuka's arm, straight into Miho's heart.

"Tsubame Gaeshi." the Mataki said. Miho coughed up blood. "As I told you, it's two against one." she insisted.

"That's... not possible." she said, and fell to the ground, seemingly dead.

"Looks like it's over." Yukiko said, pulling out her sword.

"Yeah." Asuka replied.

Miho's clothes stained with blood, her eyes looked lifeless. Akiko used first-aid medical ninjutsu to heal Asuka's little scrapes and bruises.

"For being an idiot, you are quite good." Akiko said, haven been out of the genjutsu for a while.

"Don't mention it." Asuka grinned. Suddenly, Yukiko fell over, unconscious. Asuka caught her.

"You don't have a idea when it comes to being immortal." she said.

"What are you, a Jashinist?" she said, having heard of the religion before.

"No, I am not a Jashinist, but I can go ten more times before dying." She lined her sword up with fire once again.

"This time, burn all the way down to your bones, if you please!"

It flew towards them, but evaporated once again. And this time, it wasn't Akiko.

"So, you finally come!" yelled Miho, with a smile. "I've been expecting you!"

They spun around their heads to see a girl, hair in a ponytail, blowing in the wind. Two rings around her eyes, instead of her normal purple, the rings and her pupils were lavender. Unlike her younger sister, she did not have only one ring. Her expression was neutral. They looked into the others' eyes, brown meeting purple.

"Sayomi Mataki."

o.-.o.-.o

Miho Ikeda laughed. "What an amazing amount of chakra! I can feel it just by being near you!" She sent her twin tornadoes after her, but they became a pile of dust near her.

Miho became insane with power. She laughed maniacally. "Incredible! Incredible!" attacks continued to become reduced next to the older Mataki. Her expression stayed neutral, but Asuka and Akiko stared at her in awe.

"Indeed, your guard is incredible." Miho said, with a smile. "But how will your guard fare against _this_?" She pointed to the sky and lightning came down on a nearby tree, and Sayomi. It was as if a sphere surrounded her, keeping her safe. The tree was set ablaze, not faring so well.

Sayomi closed her eyes. Miho's eyes widened and gasped. The other two kunoichi stared at the intense battle, Yukiko recovering from the genjutsu, muttered something similar to "Yomi."

Purple flames erupted from one of Sayomi's eyes, identical to her eye color.

o.-.o.-.o

Miho gave a giggle, but she seemed nervous and tense.

"Yomi..." Yukiko muttered, getting up on her own now.

"She's amazing..." Asuka said... she remembered reading something in a burnt diary...

_June xx xxxx_

_I've breached it, the final stage of the honogan, the reaxxx why thxy call it thxx... because txe... Never tell anyone. and the rest was unreadable. _

"Living survivor, Mataki Sayomi... you're not someone who should be ordinarily playing around here, are you? Fussing over your younger sister, bound to such a useless city... it's almost as if you were begging me to come over and take your power and soul, right?" her eyes looked scary. Miho backed up and six fireballs surrounded her. They shot at the Mataki at lightning speed, but they exploded in different directions when they came within three metres of her, giving a sound like a blast from a cannon, magnified on a scale of a hundred.

"Amazing! I want that power!" she exclaimed.

"Sayomi—" Yukiko started, but her sister only looked at her.

"Keep back. Stay out of the way." she said in reply. She moved over to an area away from the group, and of course Miho followed, Sayomi not looking Miho's way.

"You don't want to get the others caught in the middle of this, isn't that it?" she asked. "How kind of you. Hey, did you know that normal shinobi, or kunoichi have a limit of how much chakra they can use before dying?" she asked. She held up her finger, which amassed a huge ball of light, larger than a desk. "But for someone like me, who has a stock of lives, it doesn't matter. I'll just get more chakra from them." She sent the raging light at Sayomi.

"I'll give you 100%!" she yelled. It evaporated in front of her.

"Not enough?! 350%! 500%! 600%!" She smiled, her arm squirting blood. She laughed maniacally.

"Amazing..." Akiko said.

"No. What is truly terrifying about my sister..." Yukiko muttered, looking at the battle, not missing a second.

"Won't you fall over already?" Miho yelled, panting.

"Go back to wherever you came from." Sayomi said, and slowly turned her head.

"Huh... who, me?" she panted, and readied her light balls.

"...is not her ninjutsu, or her sword knowledge..."

Purple eyes met brown, and Miho's eyes widened. The leaves on the tree blew away and Miho collapsed to the ground, dead.

"It's the power of her eyes." Yukiko said. "She has just made eye contact with Miho, using honogan."

Asuka's eyes were wide. _Just one glance at her, and a person will die?_ She thought. That was why Sayomi never directly looked into any eye but her sisters'. Sayomi continued to look down at Miho. _That's why she hardly uses it._

"She only uses this power when she's facing a tough opponent... S-Rank Opponents."

_She has so much power over death. _Miho continued to get up, laughing. But she just looked at Sayomi's eyes from the corner of her eye, and fell to the ground again.

_That's why she restrains herself from looking at us when she meets us. Even though she knows nothing will happen, she doesn't want to._

Sayomi clutched her eye, but continued looking at her. Everytime Miho would get up, the burning amethyst eyes would taker her down. But it seemed to begin to cause her severe pain.

_Sayomi is closer to death than any of us, and it grieves her._

Miho got up once again. Sayomi looked at her... and looked at her... but Miho had blinded herself. She poked her eyes deep, and was now immune to Sayomi's eye. She gave her usual maniac laugh.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha... ha ha ha ha ha heh..." Miho laughed. Sayomi gasped.

"Your eyes can't see me now, can they?" She slowly walked towards Sayomi, who backed away slowly in shock.

"Just as I expected you are very strong. So how do you like this?" She grasped the girl in a tight tackle... but then she felt a blade pierce through her. She fell to the ground. Sayomi turned and walked away. That was the eighth time... the girl should only have her original life left.

She felt an arm grasp her foot. She inhaled sharply.

"I have two more spare lives, and then my life... I said I can go ten times without dying... but those are my stocks. Really, I can go eleven..." she held on to it tightly.

"Run, Yomi!" Yukiko yelled. But Sayomi didn't move.

"All chakra—release!" The color from the area seemed to drain into negatives, reminding Sayomi of a genjutsu she knew well...

There was a spark below her, that grew wider and larger as the moments passed by, until everyone was temporarily blinded. "Yomi!" Yukiko yelled. In the area, there was a large crater, the nearby tree hardly standing.

o.-.o.-.o

"Is your eyes the only thing you know?" she said, and gave a more maniacal laugh. "It sure must be inconvenient, only having one life, huh, Asuka?" she faced them. Sayomi lie in the crater, unconscious but not dead.

"Hey, Asuka," Akiko said, lacing her fingers around her ribbons. "What do you think we're feeling? It's a first for me. I don't really care about a lot of people... but seeing Mataki-san getting trashed like that, I feel like my heart is on fire, or something, and I have the irresistible urge to _pound this chick._"

"That's probably because you care about her. After all, she did come to our rescue." Asuka replied.

"Yeah. Maybe that's it." Akiko said.

"Asuka, I've just thought up a new move. Help me name it when we get back to the village, if you please." she said.

"Lately, there've been a lot more things I don't want to lose... Let's do it." she lengthened her nails and got into a fighting position.

The other two nodded. Yukiko disappeared, and the other two ran towards her in a full-frontal attack.

"Hiken..." Yukiko said, then jumped up into the air. She used the wind to create a giant sword, made out of seven billion leaves. It didn't seem lethal, but it was.

"_Move-name-to-be-decided!_" it collided with Miho's sword, but did not go through. Miho shoved her sword upward, moving the leaves in a position, making it backfire at Yukiko.

"Let's go~!" yelled Akiko, stabbing down at her, but she deflected with her blade then kicked her, and swung her away.

"Kiko-chan!" Asuka said, stopping her fall. Yukiko noticed and jumped over to help.

"Are you two all right?" Yukiko asked.

Up on the hill, Miho grabbed her sword, and stabbed it through her.

"What's she doing?!" Asuka yelled.

o.-.o.-.o

Miho stood up once more. The blood turned into a white light and radiated off of her, onto the ground before finally going dark. She was perfectly fine.

"Ahh, much better. It's hard to fight with a handicap, don't you know." she said. "I've now completely regenerated."

"That's nasty!" Akiko complained.

"You seem more of a Jashinist than normal, don't you?" Asuka said.

"I've lost many of the lives today that I worked to collect. I'll have to take yours from you, it seems." she hobbled over towards them.

Asuka lengthened her nails once again, and amassed much strength, bonding the atoms ever more tightly.

She walked towards her. Miho stopped and shot the balls of light at her, grazing her arm.

"You could at least dodge her, you know!" Akiko protested.

Once again, Asuka got up and grabbed Miho's arm. "Let go of me!" Miho protested, and shot at her point-blank.

"As Sayomi was taking the attacks, she was thinking... the taking of another's life... an act like that..."

"What are you talking about? You sound tame!" she yelled.

"Die! I told you to die, didn't I?" she ran at Asuka, blade in hand. Asuka grabbed the blade.

"I can't die. Not yet. I haven't lived my life all-out." she shattered the sword, and Miho gasped.

"This was where you kept all your souls, right? I noticed you haven't dropped it once. In fact, you went out of your way to keep touching it."

"You came here to change our lives, but now I'm going to change yours."

"I have an artifact of many lives!" she yelled.

"Then be reborn! I'll kill you, over and over again, until your borrowed lives are used up!" Yukiko joined, and brought out her katanas. Miho was terrified. The sky was filled with red and screams of anguish, in the time when Sayomi regained consciousness.

Miho slowly backed away.

"Looks like that was your last life, huh?" Asuka asked. "you've taken too many lives for your own selfish needs. It's time to atone."

"N-No... don't kill me."

"That's what they all said." she said. She shot her nails at her.

"NO!" she screamed. There was a loud crash.

o.-.o.-.o

"Excuse me," a cute voice said, "What do you think you're doing to my friend?" she asked sweetly.

"Ayaka-sensei! Asu-nyan's an idiot, but please don't misunderstand!" Akiko protested. "Hold on-what are you doing here anyway?"

"I came here to retrieve my Kumo-Tofu." she replied simply.

"Oh, that!" Asuka exclaimed. She brought out a bag of dripping wet... squished Kumogakure Tofu. "Sorry... I don't think it'll affect the taste, though." she said.

"I-I didn't do anything... please help me, Hana-chan..." Miho whispered.

"She's a good girl~!" cheered Ayaka. "There's no proof that I should trust _you,_ however..." she reached on her back for a large saw...

"Akiko, Yukiko, step back..." she said.

"You're going to fight Ayaka-sensei?!" Akiko yelled. Asuka charged in and slashed. However, she disappeared.

_Too fast!_ She thought.

"Woah~! You're amazing!" Ayaka said, but deflected the nail with her black and gold saw.

"It was pleasant." she said, but suddenly a grey chakra filled Miho. When she opened her eyes, she looked dreamy... but it was not her.

"Hello, Sayomi... you look healthy... oh, don't look so scared. I haven't tried doing anything yet. Well, let's meet again." the voice disappeared and disappeared in the compounded grey chakra.

"Yomi..." Yukiko muttered... "What was that just now?"

"That... was from a person I had supposedly eliminated..." Sayomi said, honogan turned off.


End file.
